Foley artist Heikki Kossi has moved away from Finland and will start working in California in February. His new employer is Skywalker Sound, a company specialising in film sound.
His new employer, Skywalker Sound, is part of Lucasfilm, now part of the Disney entertainment empire.
Heikki Kossi has joined the company as a foley artist on a two-year contract. Kossi’s own sound company H5 Film Sound Oy has already closed down and his work as an employee of Skywalker Sound will start at the beginning of February.
Disney had long been interested in Koss’ services and over the years he has made a brief appearance at Skywalker Ranch. About a year ago, it began to look like a move to California was imminent.
– They wanted me there, I didn’t apply to work for them. I am looking forward to the job, Heikki Kossi describes the recruitment process.
From the potato fields of the North to the vineyards of California
Skywalker Ranch is located about a 40-minute drive north of San Francisco. The 1,900-hectare estate is still a private area, which includes a barn with animals, gardens, vineyards and its own artificial lake, as well as restaurant and hobby facilities for employees.
– It’s a farm, as the name says. Mainly, however, it is the workplace of dozens of people devoted to film sounds, with luxurious studio facilities. There are, among other things, two hundred musicians Vetavä sali, where film music is recorded. Top places to make film voices all over the world, describes Heikki Kossi.
So far, Heikki Kossi has made sounds for all kinds of films, from personal projects to Hollywood mega-productions.
Working for Skywalker, practically every movie is expected to be a success. According to Koss, it has no effect on how he does his work.
– Until now, I have approached every project with complete seriousness. It must be taken into account that for example a sound designer or a director, the film at hand, regardless of whether it is a film worth hundreds of millions of euros or an art film for a few thousand, may be the only project for five years, Kossi emphasizes.
From duo to trio
– With Shelley, the characters were divided in half, it didn’t matter if the voice was made for a man or a woman or what size the character was. It was a very democratic way of working. In a three-person team, the brainstorming in the idea phase is also more creative. I’m looking forward to! Heikki Kossi says.
Kossi, who started his career as a foley artist in 2001 with the *Itse valtiaat* television series and other domestic productions, has become more international year by year, even though the station remained behind well-guarded gates in the large industrial area of \u200b\u200bKokkola.
Heikki Kossi is currently nominated for the Danish Film Academy’s Robert Award for the sound design of the documentary *House of Chips*. Kossi is also nominated for the Golden Reel winner of the American Motion Picture Sound Editors organization with the films *Bardo* and *The Territory*.
Two years ago, the team that included Heikki Kossi won the Oscar for the movie *Sound Of Metal*.
Artistic uncompromisingness and ingenuity combined with modern technology have enabled Kossi to work far from the world’s metropolises.
– This space has had a huge number of features that are hard to find elsewhere. The floors are sturdy and sound well. This is a solid brick building, which provides good protection against outside noise. There could be more than a hundred decibels of sound outside, so that it carried all the way inside. Working in the factory area has also been a good thing from a safety point of view, Heikki Kossi describes the facilities that will be returned to industrial production use.
Foley artist gets attached even to a broken sewing machine
Foley sounds are sound effects that are recorded for movies or TV series after the actual filming, like most other sound and visual effects. They are so-called spot sounds, where no pre-made recordings are used, but the foley artist \”acts\” in the image – and sometimes outside the image – as the sounds of the movement in the post-production phase.
The most common sounds are those related to clothes and shoes, such as footsteps and various rustlings. The objects used by the characters and other movement sounds are also part of the foley artist’s job description.
Heikki Kossi takes a huge amount of material needed to make sounds with him to California. Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, a ship is currently sailing with a whole sea container of good-sounding stuff from Kokkola on board.
The courier service has already delivered, among other things, a large suitcase of shoes to Ranchi, and some necessities are still on the way to California in Kossi’s personal luggage.
The question arises, is there not enough stuff in the USA?
– It’s certainly enough, I don’t doubt it at all! But it’s not like you can only find the necessary stuff there, you can’t assume that they can be found in the store. If you’ve found a unique item that makes your heart beat a little faster, you’ll want to use it more often. For example, there is a sewing machine frame in the container, which is completely broken, but it squeaks and squeaks so wonderfully that we had to take it with us, says Heikki Kossi.
Secrets of the trade
In the end, of course, we have to ask what is Heikki Koss’s first film for Skywalker Sound and what other works will be produced by the new working group during this year. The answer to the first question is short:
– I can’t tell you that.
The answer to the latter question is not much more enlightening:
– The task is to be at work when the working time starts, Heikki Kossi laughs in response.
At the beginning of February, the working time starts and Heikki Kossi will have a container of kampetta from Kokkola with him then ready.
*Sources: Internet Movie Database, Lucasfilm, Wikipedia*